Under-aged marriage -- An adult marrying a person who is not of
legal age to marry.

Wife swapping -- (more commonly called spouse swapping or "the
lifestyle") Temporary consensual sexual liaisons in which two or more couples exchange
spouses.

What Christian Polygamy is:

Christian polygamy is actually about polygyny as it was practiced throughout the
time span covered by the Hebrew and Christian Scriptures -- Old and New
Testaments. This is a marriage among three or more persons including one male
and two or more women. This is one of the eight types of
marriages and families mentioned in the Bible.

There appears to be one main
difference between Christian Polygamy and the polygamy practiced in the Bible:
In biblical times, women were rarely able to choose whom they wished to marry.
Arranged marriages were the norm. Unmarried women who were raped were often
required to marry their attacker. A woman whose husband died without fathering a
child were pressured by custom to marry their brother-in-law and produce an heir
for her dead ex-husband. In contrast, within Christian Polygamy,
the polygynous marriages are absolutely consensual.

The term "Christian polygamy" may be a little confusing to some, for
two reasons:

It is currently linked to Evangelical Christianity, not to the full range of
Christian faith groups.

It actually advocates polygyny and rejects polyandry. Thus it does not
accept the full range of marriage types implied by the term "polygamy." This
is because polyandry -- one woman married to multiple men -- is not condoned or even mentioned in the Bible.

The term "Evangelical Christian polygyny" would be more precise of the
group's current scope. However, many -- perhaps most -- North Americans are
unaware of the meaning of the word "polygyny." So, a case can be made that
"Christian Polygamy" is the optimum term.

About the Truth Bearer ministry:

TruthBearer.org describe themselves as a Christ-centered, Spirit-led,
Scripture-believing, cross-denominational ministry that promotes Christian
Polygamy with an outreach to
conservative Scripture-believing Christian Churches. They appear to maintain a
network of web sites. 1,2,3,4,5

They stress that they have no connection with the Mormon
movement, either in doctrine or history. The early Mormon church practiced
polygyny. The main Mormon denomination, The Church of Jesus Christ of
Latter-day Saints, suspended polygyny on at least
a temporary basis on 1890-SEP-24, after having received what they believe to
have been a revelation from
God. However a number of other Mormon denominations
continue to practice polygyny. The most notable of these is the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of the
Latter-Day Saints (FLDS). It is a very
different form of polygyny from that promoted by Christian polygamists.
Christian Polygamy is free of manipulation, coercion, and spousal violence.
Under-age spouses are not allowed. Male youth are not expelled in order to
create an artificial surplus of young women for polygynous marriages.

The Christian Polygamy ministry was officially founded by Mark Henkel on
1997-SEP-01. Their headquarters -- referred to internally as "TRUTH BEARER
Central" -- is in Old Orchard Beach, ME. Previous to that date, he had published a
newsletter called "The Standard Bearer."

Some of their terminology includes:

"Love not force:" This is the process by which a man gently
persuading his first wife to accept the idea of polygyny without the use of
compulsion.

"Continuing the ReformationSM:"They regard Christian polygamy as
a logical extension of the Protestant Reformation.

"Scripture-believing Christian churches:"
At first glance, this might be interpreted as referring to all Christian
denominations, because they all Christian faith groups believe that they derive their beliefs from the Bible.
However, the phrase appears to refer to Fundamentalist and other conservative
Evangelical groups who believe in the inerrancy of
the Bible.

"Polygamy really is Biblical!SM:"
They teach that polygyny is condoned and regulated in the Bible.

Their stated agenda is:

"...to 'sell' to the Scripture-believing Churches (our 'customer') that
they can indeed 'buy' the truth of our message of Christian Polygamy being
Scriptural and righteous."

Once they convince the conservative wing of Protestantism that Christian
Polygamy is based on the Scripture and is moral, they believe that more liberal denominations
should follow suit.

Annual Celebration:

Since 2001, Christian Polygamists celebrate AUG-19 yearly as "Polygamy Day™."
6 The observances are numbered sequentially, so that the Polygamy Day for 2007
was called "Polygamy Day 7." Polygamy Day, Inc. was organized, in part, "To
promote the date of 'August 19,' in each and every year, as the only, actual,
exclusive, trademark, and 'official' date of 'Polygamy Day'..."